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Roseville diver brings home state crown

Roseville Area High School sophomore Michelle Schlossmacher-Smith made school history recently when she brought home a gold medal from the Minnesota State High School League girls state swimming and diving meet. Schlossmacher-Smith became the first Raider female swimmer or diver to win a title at the state meet.

Schlossmacher-Smith's 11-dive score of 442.05 beat out runner-up Andrianna Jacobs, a senior from Rochester Century. Schlossmacher-Smith entered the finals on Nov. 10 at the University of Minnesota's Aquatic Center with a 24-point lead and held off Jacobs' charge.

"I don't usually watch scores but this was one of those nights where you have to watch the scores to know where you are," Schlossmacher-Smith said.

Jacobs had taken the lead on her final attempt and forced Schlossmacher-Smith to come up with one last dive to pull out the championship. Schlossmacher-Smith scored a 37.8 on that final attempt to eke out the victory.

"She had such amazing dives tonight," Schlossmacher-Smith said of Jacobs.

Schlossmacher-Smith won the state title in her third trip to state. She finished 14th two years ago as an eighth grader and jumped up to fifth last year in her freshman season.

"I've been doing this so long," Schlossmacher-Smith said. "It seems like everyone that has believed in me and worked with me and all my hard work with them is paying off."

Jacobs, one of the divers who finished ahead of Schlossmacher-Smith last year at state, finished fourth in 2014. Rachel Bertram of Buffalo was the runner-up last year and finished fifth this year.

The lead Schlossmacher-Smith held after the semifinals might have seemed like a comfortable margin but she knew any small slip-up could have cost her the title.

"I was happy with my performance on Wednesday night for sure and I know 20 points seems like a lot but it's not," said Schlossmacher-Smith. "If I had done slightly worse on one dive, she probably would have taken it."

Schlossmacher-Smith's victory snapped a streak of four straight years in which a senior won the Class AA state diving title. The last time a non-senior won it was in 2010.

The victory at state capped an undefeated season for Schlossmacher-Smith, who also captured the Suburban East Conference and Section 4AA diving championships this fall. She also finished first in all eight of Roseville's Suburban East Conference dual meets and three invitational meets.

Roseville had two others qualify for the state meet. Freshman Madison Atz also qualified for the diving event at state but did not advance past the preliminary round. Her prelim score of 131.95 left her in 29th place and only the top 20 advance to the semifinals.

Eighth grader Pyper Doo made state in the 50-yard freestyle and advanced to the finals. Her prelim time of 24.58 seconds landed her in 16th place, which secured her a spot in the consolation final. She beat out St. Michael-Albertville's Jordyn Schnell by 0.01 seconds for the last finals position.

In the finals, Doo placed seventh in the consolation heat with a time of 24.48 seconds.